The mum of a toddler who was given a five per cent chance of surviving past her fifth birthday due to a rare condition has praised her "happy, smiling" brave two-year-old daughter.
Gabriela Bolmane, 21 months old, has a rare defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which means one side of her heart is underdeveloped. Doctors told her mum, Evita Bolmane, from Skelmersdale, that her then-unborn baby would only have a five per cent chance of reaching five years old, when Evita was pregnant with Gabriela in April 2020.
When Evita was 24 weeks pregnant, doctors told her and her husband Zigmunds that they had the choice to terminate the pregnancy, give birth to the baby for her to pass away, or put their new-born through surgery to survive.
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Evita told Lancs Live: “I just broke down, I couldn’t even talk. I was scared; your world just comes crashing down and there’s nothing you can do; all you can do is hope.”
The couple chose to push on with the surgery option. Gabriela was transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital three hours after her birth. Her first heart surgery was at just six days old, followed by another operation in December 2020 that Gabriela almost did not survive. At nine months, brave Gabriela had another operation, to fit a stent in her artery.
“In December 2020, she had a CT scan which showed how her oxygen levels were dropping, and they had to rush her up to put her heart on oxygen support. She had emergency surgery lasting ten hours on December 29, and started bleeding profusely.
“The surgeons at Alder Hey were amazing; they just did what they could, and it lasted ten hours. Thankfully, she pulled through.”
The mum praised her "amazing" little girl. Mum Evita told Lancs Live: “Because of her low oxygen levels, when she crawls, she gets out of breath and her lips, hands and cheeks turn blue.
"And there are lots of side effects from the medication; she has long, beautiful hair but she is losing it all the time because of the medication, but she is literally amazing; she never stops smiling, she always laughs, and she knows every single person around here. The only place she never smiles is in the hospital, possibly because she remembers everything that has kept happening there, but when we go to playgroups and shops, she is smiling and she loves giving hugs and sending kisses.”
Gabriela will be on medication and palliative care for life. She is due back at Alder Hey in June for a check-up and scans, with another operation set for June, when Gabriela is due to turn three.
Highlighting the severity of Gabriela’s condition, Evita said it was the most serious heart defect that there is. She added: “It’s horrible - it’s just a horrible condition and there’s nothing you can do. We just have to take it day by day, but you never know. Some days I sit down and cry, as our world can come crashing down in one single day."
The family will take part in a 3km charity walk, ‘Oli’s Safari Walk’ to raise money for Alder Hey Children’s Charity which starts at 10am at Knowsley Safari Park on May 15. Click here to view the fundraising page.
